A Roman site near Elloughton, East Yorkshire (Peter Halkon and James Lyall)

This site was discovered by Tony McManus in 2003, who had found Roman coins and artefacts there. He informed the late Rod Mackey of the East Riding Archaeological Society (ERAS) of his find. Geophysical surveys revealed a hitherto unknown extensive pattern of enclosures and buildings associated with a possible Roman road heading for the river Humber.

Excavations in August 2014 and October 2015 revealed the stone foundations of a rectangular Roman building c. 18m x 7m, decorated with painted wall plaster and mosaic floors with an apsidal end. Underlying this was a ditch containing much animal bone and pottery, dating from the late second and early third centuries AD. A further pit contained an unusual deposit of much animal bone carefully packed into its base, including many geese and other wildfowl. Amongst the bone was a large cowrie shell, probably from the south-eastern Mediterranean.

Evidence for both earlier and later activity on the site was found, including Neolithic pottery, an Iron Age burial and an important group of Anglo-Saxon burials. Its prime location near the Humber Estuary suggests a possible connection with the Civitas capital of the Parisi at Brough on Humber.